Niccolò da Casola La Guerra d’Attila

Writing in the later fourteenth century, the Bolognese poet and notary Nicholas of Casola drew upon the earlier Estoire d’Atile en Ytaire to present his vision of early medieval Italian history, inspired in part by the themes and styles of late medieval romance. Drawing on this genre, Nicholas reworked the events of the earlier Estoire into events and themes familiar to chivalric romance, beginning the birth of Attila, where King Ostrubal of Hungry organizes a tournament to find a knight worthy of his daughter Claire. Although she is poised to reluctantly marry the champion of this tournament, she is soon impregnated by a greyhound that shares her bed, leading her to give birth to her half-dog, half man son Attila. Attila’s bestial qualities lead him to savagely wage war against Christianity until he is faced by King Gilio of Padua and Foresto, the legendary ancestor of the Este family, and who are Nicholas’s patrons. This text is an example of late medieval courtly adaptions of history.

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